I Shook Oscar Peterson’s Hand in Pittsburgh

Either
he was in
the Top Shelf
drinking
after finishing
at Heinz Hall
March 12, 1979
or —
I was putting on
a first baseman’s mitt
his hands were so big
my wife used to say
big hands means
either
a big watchamacallit
or —
girls laughing out loud
their legs twitching like clarinets haha
better a book of poems
under a skirt to say I love you
and
either
we should get married
in this city of bridges
or —
drive away two-handed
like virgins in a green Plymouth
lost in another chorus
of tin cans dragging
our pants down —Bye Bye Blackbirdthat would have been it

− John Stupp

John Stupp is the author of the 2007 Main Street Rag chapbook The Blue Pacific and the 2015 full-length collection Advice from the Bed of a Friend (Main Street Rag). He lives in Sewickley. Many writers featured in Chapter & Verse are guests of Prosody, produced by Jan Beatty and Ellen Wadey. Prosody airs every Saturday morning on WESA 90.5 FM.